Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina into a poor working-class family, he dropped out of school in the second grade.
Gibson's first band was called Sons of the Soil, with whom he made his first recording in 1948. Among his greatest hits were "Oh Lonesome Me" (later recorded by both Ray Charles and Neil Young) and "Blue Blue Day" (both No. 1 hits in 1958); "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" (1959); "Sea of Heartbreak" (1961); "Lonesome No. 1" and "I Can Mend Your Broken Heart" (1962); and "Woman (Sensuous Woman)" (a No. 1 hit in 1972).
Gibson recorded a series of successful duets with Dottie West in the late 1960s, the most successful of which were the No. 2 country hit "Rings of Gold" (1969) and the top 10 hit "There's a Story Goin' Round" (1970). In 1957, Gibson travelled back to Nashville to record "Oh Lonesome Me" for RCA. He and producer Chet Atkins decided to abandon the traditional steel guitar and fiddle and use a new sound featuring only guitars, a piano, a drummer, upright bass, and background singers. It became one of the first examples of what would be called the Nashville Sound and won Gibson a #1 hit; it also set the pattern for a long series of other RCA hits, including “Blue Blue Day” (1958).
A talented songwriter, Gibson was nicknamed "the sad poet" because he frequently wrote songs that told of loneliness and lost love. He wrote and sang "I Can't Stop Loving You", a song that would be recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles with a pop version in 1962. He also wrote and recorded "Sweet Dreams" that would become a major 1963 crossover hit for Patsy Cline. A great fan, in 1967 Roy Orbison recorded an album of his songs simply titled: Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson.
Don Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and in 2001 into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
On his passing in 2003, he was interred in the Sunset Cemetery, in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.
Born To Lose
Don Gibson Lyrics
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All my life I've always been so blue born to lose and now I'm losing you
Born to lose it seems so hard to bear how I long to always have you near
You've grown tired and now you say we're through
Born to lose and now I'm losing you
You were all the happiness I knew born to lose and now I'm losing you
The lyrics to Don Gibson's song "Born to Lose" carry a theme of despair and hopelessness. The singer suggests that they have always been destined to fail and that every dream they have had has only led to pain. The repetition of the phrase "Born to lose" throughout the song echoes the singer's feelings of inevitability in their past failures and current loss of a loved one. The line "All my life I've always been so blue" adds to the somber tone of the song, indicating that the singer has always struggled with sadness.
The second half of the song specifically mentions the end of a relationship, with the singer acknowledging that they are losing the person they care about. The line "You've grown tired and now you say we're through" suggests that the decision to end the relationship was not mutual, further emphasizing the singer's feelings of helplessness. The final line "You were all the happiness I knew born to lose and now I'm losing you" brings the song full circle, linking the singer's past struggles with their present loss.
Overall, the lyrics to "Born to Lose" convey a sense of hopelessness and despair, highlighting the futility of the singer's past struggles and current loss of a loved one.
Line by Line Meaning
Born to lose I've lived my life in vain every dream has always brought me pain
From the beginning, my life has been full of disappointments and my aspirations have only resulted in agony and futility.
All my life I've always been so blue born to lose and now I'm losing you
Throughout my existence, I've been melancholic and now I'm losing the one thing that brought me joy.
Born to lose it seems so hard to bear how I long to always have you near
Being destined for failure is a tremendous burden, especially when I desire to always have you close to me.
You've grown tired and now you say we're through born to lose and now I'm losing you
You've become weary of me, and now you're ending our relationship. My fate of disappointment strikes again as I lose you.
You were all the happiness I knew born to lose and now I'm losing you
You were the only thing in my life that brought me delight, but my failure has once again caused me to lose you.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Ted Daffan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind